I think Truman would work fine for a girl...why not. Tru..it's lovely.

Truman is the prefect middle name for a girl.

I remember the gas -- I blamed mine on the guy who sat behind me at work -- he had gas issues anyway.

Wait, didn't Leta already decree that the child shall be named Princess Aurora?

I'm glad to hear the ultrasound was positive.

Please don't pick 'Emily'...it's way too popular these days.

(btw, that's mine name, and I wish it was still somewhat unique)

Congrats on the baby

Lemonda.

The internet has spoken, and "Fawnzelle" is the winner.

Same dilemma at our house for kid #2. We had used the girl name that we both loved and felt that #2 would end up with sloppy seconds regarding her name.

She's Nora and it suits her, even though my husband did hate a Nora once. I won and he got over it.

the way you described her in there, tip-toeing.. completely in tears.
think i might just be pms'ing. who knows. but i cannot wait to meet her through your words-i think that she and leta will be night and day.

I vote for Meredith.

We had the exact opposite problem. We had a girl's name picked out and then we had a boy.
We borrowed a baby book at the nurse's station & just kind of picked one. My son appreciates not having to go through life named Rachel.
Now he owes us.

thankfully my husband and I started talking baby names very early in our relationship and thankfully it took us 5 years to conceive because it took that long for us to agree on a name for our baby.

Me: "How about Amelia?"

Him: "No way, sounds too much like Emilio Estevez!"

So I feel your pain Heather!! :)

Well, I keep getting 'no we cannot use that name, its too old fashion.' Or 'no we cannot use that name, my friend with that name killed themselves when we were in high school.'

So I feel your pain.

I teach, and I currently have two GIRLS one who is named Landon and the other Dylan - both traditionally boy names but I think they make cute girl names.

I agree with the wise oracle known simply as "internet" - go with Truman.

Oh, and blame the dogs for the gas. They can't deny nor defend.

Can I veto "Truman" for a girl, please? I mean, I know I'm just some twenty-something reader of your blog and I really haven't EARNED veto power, but... please? For the sake of your baby not turning into a fat guy with glasses and chin hair?

For better choices than Truman for a girl, please go back to the post where we all tried to name your friend's dog.

Other than those two thoughts, I won't deign to contribute to what to name your baby, which I imagine is a deeply personal decision involving all sorts of random factors and traumas we Teh Internetz could not possibly begin to imagine.

Wow, this name discussion sounds very familiar. Mine also goes through what potential nicknames kids could create from a name - 'absolutely not THAT name, the kids at school will rhyme it with fart.'

Glad your placenta moved up. Good luck with choosing a name, seems like it'll be a pain in the butt

Trudy would be adorable! Family names are the way to go. Since Leta has one the next baby might feel left out if she doesn't.

I know you would never use these, but just in case Jon is thinking of one, please, please, PLEASE no:

Madison
Dakota
Cassidy
Sophie
Ava
Isabella
Emma
Emily

I can see True being kind of a cool--if celebrity baby sounding--name for a girl, but I can't support the people suggesting Truman for a girl. It's a very masculine name.

I love the name Leta and I know you both to have cool taste, so I have no doubt you'll come up with something.

I wish you the best of luck!

I'm welcoming a Hannah Noelle into the world in about 3.5 weeks! Madeline Grace would have been my second choice.

I was going to name my daughter Laura, but I had a miscarriage a few months ago. Reading about your pregnancy is getting me down. Maybe I should stick to looking at pictures of Coco harassing Chuck for a while. They usually bring a smile to my face.

We had the same problem. We picked a boy and girl name and ended up with 3 boys. Jackson and Sydney were our picks, but we have a Jackson, Isaac and Carter. I lost on Isaac the first time around because my husband said it reminded him of the bartender on Love Boat. Um, dude - if our child resembles Isaac from the Love Boat I'm sure you will not care what the name is because I will have clearly been sleeping around on you since we are both very white.

There's no way to have it not sound very odd when I congratulate you on your placenta moving up. I can't even make it sound not weird that I'm inspired and relieved because of it! I'm due June 1 with our first, and go back for a second ultrasound in 2 weeks because I have marginal placenta previa and I'm so afraid that it won't resolve itself! Thank you for writing so much about your pregnancy, it is helping me stay sane through mine.

Hah! Not sane in comparison, just sane, I promise!

Okay I vote for all of the following:
Ava
Layla
Emma
Lucy
Cara
Rachel
Abigail/Abby
Lane

Trumanita?
Trumanella? (sounds fatal, nevermind)
I like Elle, Ella, Emma, Laina, Laine

Ahhh the name battle. My husband and I started having that fight before we were even married but only for boy names. When it turned out we were having a girl and I said how about Fiona he said ok and that was it. Good luck! I make no suggestions because it's a very personal decission.

Oh and I'd like to throw in Lily and Olivia.

Louise, Aveline, Elise, Yael.

Granted, all of these are on my list and I will spend the rest of my life explaining to my mom that I did not take the kid's name from you. But they are pretty names.

I've had a girl name picked out since I was a freshman in high school.

I had a history teacher who really made me love his class, he told us stories, not facts, and so when he was telling the story of how WWI started, about how a sniper killed Archduke Ferdinand, but first the sniper (accidentally?) killed Archduke Ferdinand's wife, and the last thing out of his mouth was her name, Sophia, well, ever since then I've wanted to name my daughter Sophia, thinking the name was just very sweet.

AND, the history teacher was (mostly) right! Sophia WAS one of the last things he said, but it ended up being something like, "Sophia, who will take care of our children?" Still very romantic, in my opinion.

Lovely to see she is healthy and yawning. Maybe she's a good sleeper!

I'll contribute the 2 names I didn't use: Naomi and Lydia.

you can borrow my name.....Fiona. I got called lots of great names by my family when i was growing up - FeeFee Trixabelle, Feef, Feebee, Flea. I was raised in England where it is a common name but I live in the States now and I get tons of compliments :)

It's a celtic name meaining "fair skinned"

My daughter moves the same way I thought she did before she was born. It sort of freaked me out. Maybe this kid will be way more mellow.

I know it's silly, but I've already made a list of names that I wouldn't mind naming any child I might have! :D These are the girl names, and the result of massive boredom:

(meanings in parentheses)

-audrey (with noble strength)
-aira (of the wind)
-alida (small, winged)
-eden (paradise)
-clare (clear, bright)
-fay (fairy or elf)
-cecile (blind of self-beauty)
-cheri (dear)
-rosalie (rose)
-alice (of a noble kin)
-violet (flower)
-bella (beautiful)
-kioko (meets world with happiness)
-celine (heaven)
-aura (glowing light)

I personally love family names. My mom's maiden name was Insley and when she put the L in the front she got Linsey! I share my middle name with my grandmother and my aunt...Jean.

Even though I could never find a mini-license plate for my bike with the proper spelling, I love having a name that actually means something as opposed to something else.

I'm partial to Paige. But I didn't want to name my child after myself. So, how about it? Paige?

MaKenna. Call her Kenny for short.
Stevie. Georgia- I have a friend named Georgia and she goes by George.

Boys names for girls is the best.

I know my opinion matters about as much as a tiny rat's ass, but I've gotta say that naming a girl Truman and calling her Tru would be horrid. Tru? Seriously. She'll be a stripper. I hate trendy names like that. Arg.

Besides, we all know it should be Fawnzelle.

Olivia
Mia
Alyssa
Audrey

How about Avery?

Oh, and from the ultrasound profile shot I'm thinking Jon might have another mini-me!

I think Tru is a wonderful name.
This, of course, if this is your last one. If you are planning on having another...or if it's even a possibility, you might want to wait on the Truman.

However, saying, "Are Leta and Tru going to be there?" sounds quite natural.

Here's to elevating placentas and names that don't create the demise of your marriage!

Just please don't insert 8 million Y's into an otherwise perfectly good name. Because Bryttany and Alysyn? Make me ill.
p.s. Part of the captcha is Irene. Rofl!

Definitely on board the "Name this chick Truman!" bandwagon. She's got to grow up to be super cool w such a name...

My daughters names are Ariana Grace and Gabriella (though she gets called Ella) Emersyn. Knock yourself out :)

My husband and I are not fans of common names so we are using one that I sort of threw together. I always loved the name Avery, but people told me it was too much of a boy's name to use for a girl. So, it has become Averley. If we ever have a little girl, which I hope we do, she will be called Averley.

(You can use it if you want) ;)

Haviland or Harlow - those names would never belong to a booger-eater and I'm sure they would be great kissers.

My girls are named Ruby and Magnolia, so what the hell do I know?

My vote: Mabel Armstrong

Although you didn't ask, I'm a big fan of Truman for a girl. My mom was convinced during her entire pregnancy with me that she was going to have a boy and had her perfect name selected. When she in fact produced a girl, me, she named me after my aunt and my father. I've always gone by Scottie, after my father, a name I despised whilst young and begged to have changed to Heather (no joke). Now I love my name, and I bear no ill will toward either parent for its androgynous nature as other commenters have suggested your future progeny might.

I have to say I'm not really into the trend for using last names as first names, particularly for girls, so I personally wouldn't choose Truman... It really doesn't sound in the least feminine to me, unlike Leta which clearly does.
I could give you a list of my own faves, but obviously naming your daughter is your affair.
I can say, however, that for our second daughter my husband and I couldn't agree at all... His "chosen name" was (wait for it)...Smilka, which means basil (the herb) in Serbian. What could I say (except "Hell, no!)? You also have to bear in mind we live in the south of France (and he's even French, though I'm British), where Milka chocolate is very popular.
In the end, we chose Lydie Rebecca, even though my husband had a girlfried called Lydie in his youth. I like the name, and it suits her, and it's really uncommon here in France (Lydie is the French form of Lydia, but it's pretty old-fashioned).
Good luck!

Our top two girl name picks were Marin or Kenna. We are having a June baby also, but ours will be of the masculine variety!

Ellery Queen Armstrong

I'll throw a couple names in the hat. How about.. June.. Adele.. Ruby.. or Stella?

Picking a girl's name was tough for us to, but I think we came up with a good one - Harper.

Hey, it's a pregnant woman's right to pass gas. My husband makes fun of me and I have to remind him that I'm carrying TWO babies, so- TWICE THE FLATULENCE. And then I ask him what his excuse is. If Jon ever DOES say anything, tell him that the word "permission" is misspelled in his copywright message. Because it is!

My John hates the names I picked out for girls so I'll let you consider them if you want to since I have to go for "normal" names now. Desmyn, with Desy for short, and Cambell. NO CAMI for short- at least I wouldn't shorten it, but you know, whatever. I knew a girl named Cami in kindergarten and she made fun of me a lot. Until I hit her in the face with a dodgeball. Good times.

Good luck and I'm glad your uterus fixed itself!

Maya

I went to hippie school and these were the names of some of the girls:

Poppy
Isis
Delphine
Lydian
Tenaya
Saramax
Joya (one of my fave people ever!)
Becklien
Charis
Bronwen
Larkin
Tate
Elspeth

There was also a boy named Omen. His brother's name was Irony.

Heather, I find it fascinating that you feel a difference between Leta's movements in utero and your new daughter's motions. I have three daughters and they were all very different inside of me. The first one was just very stubborn about settling into certain positions and would endlessly poke an elbow or knee back into a specific spot after I'd massaged it into a new location (due to PAIN). She is 11 years old and is very particular about things being done the "right" (obviously, "her") way. The second one would wake me up twice a night, every single night in the later months of pregancy, for a 20-minute punching bag session. Just some weird repetitive beating she felt I needed. At 8 and half years old, she is the most relentless human being I have ever met. My youngest daughter was calm and gentle inside of me and (at age 5) is the only easygoing female in our house. I'm currently very early in my fourth pregnancy and cannot wait to gather hints about who this person might be. I admit that I will live in absolute fear if I get any sign that it resembles the more challenging traits of my second child.

I love the name Truman. Good luck agreeing on something.

Don't you have siblings with weird names? Like a brother with the name Badger, or is it Dodger? Or Charger, or something like that? Pick something weird and obscure like that.

You can always just wait until the last minute, then let Leta name her. With any luck she'll be out of the princess phase by June.

Name her Brandy! My son's name is Ry...it's a match made in bar heaven.

It sounds like you need a petite girlie name that evokes images of butterflies and ringlet curls and lacy socks and I can almost hear the fairies sings in the background...

...how about Elise Noelle Armstrong. Leta can call her Princess Elise.....

My husband allowed me to believe we had a name chosen until after our daughter popped out and then changed his mind. We pulled a royal family and waited three whole days to name her, and wound up naming her a boys' name because we liked it so much. Now that she's five months old, I have grown to love her name as much as my husband does.

Heather,

I have two daughters, and would have loved to have more...just to name them. All of the fun names I've saved up will have to be future "puppy names".

I love names that can be shortened into something "fun". Ok, here goes:

Kit ( Katherine)
Vivi (Genvieve)
George (Georgia)

Anything sounds great with Armstrong...Have fun!

This is exactly what happened when I was pregnant with my daughter, we pretty much ended up going through a baby name book, I would mark the ones I liked and then he would go through and mark the ones he liked.

The only one we both liked was Jessica. Poor kid. Do you know how many billion Jessica's there are in the world? I really feel bad because I grew up with "Michelle" and there were at least 3 of us in every class my whole life. I know how awful it is to have a common name.

I vote for Lillian. Then you can have Lily and Leta.

I like Riley.

Congrats on a healthy baby and a healthy Mama. We named our daughter Amelia and we get a lot of compliments on it. It was not the name I had always wanted but we had to pick a new one when my SIL chose a name similar to the one I wanted. Still not sure 16 months later if Amelia is better, but it is a nice name.

I love Truman (Tru) for a girl.

Good news on the placenta. I'm sure that worried you a bit. Having had a baby with a heart defect, I can imagine the great news that her parts look good must be such a relief.

Hmmm, Truman could be interesting for a girl...
but I really like Piper.

I once worked with the sweetest girl with the loveliest name... Trula. I thinks it's adorable! And it sounds very nice with Leta.

Kasie / Kasey / Casey
Bonnie
Hana
Rory
Penny

I think a number of people have said this already, but a friend of mine's daughter is named Truman. She is about 12 now, and one of my favorite kids to be around. I thought it was odd the first time I heard it, but I quickly got over it.

I have had so many of these same conversations. Our boys name has been waiting in the wings while our family has become, as my husband says "a real taco-fest."

We are totally out of girls names, and I KNOW if we have another it is sure to be a girl. My rule of thumb so far is to choose Jane Austen heroines in order of likability. Names I love but will never get to use, because of my husbands irrational hatred:

Beatrice = "too old, no good nickname"
Eleanor = "too old, makes me think colostomy bag"
Rose = "too weird"
Margaret (including any derivative- Maggie, Molly, etc.) = "too catholic, and sounds like a golden retriever"
Olive = "too trendy"

name her Brynn

My favorite names are:

Evelyn
Finley
Faren
Paige
Peyton

I like Ellery and Harper(suggested above) as well.

I'm sorry but some of you have f'd up ideas about names!

Do your kid a favor and don't get creative with spelling. No need to add a "y" in the middle of a name just for the hell of it.

Meleah. I love this name but my father thought it reminded him of an exotic dancer (his words, not mine). I told him if all else fails, at least my daughter would have her stripper name to fall back on.

Heather,

So good that your placenta moved up. I had the same thing happening, and then went on to have a great pregnancy.

That is one good looking foot.

We had a girl's name all picked out years before I got pregnant. But it's a boy. We debated for the entire 9 months. If it wasn't for the exasperated woman at the hospital asking for a decision, he would still be 'baby boy'. And my hubby vetoed everything I mentioned. Drove me nuts.

You'll find the perfect name in time.

Audelle
Addison
Trudy (female version for Truman)

Ya know, "Deuce" is a not uncommon nickname for boys who are named after their father. Why not name her Heather and just call her "Deuce"?

And www.deuce.com seems like it could be had. Think of it, she could start blogging by age 8 and supplement the family income! Even better than making you hot dogs!

Name her after me. No one will be able to spell it, much less pronounce it and everyone will call her Sena. [Sounds like the Lucy Lawless Warrior Princess.] Or Neith. It's Egyptian, means "devotee of the Goddess Neith", who was roughly the Egyptian equivalent of Athena.

A few choices:

Stella
Avery
Caroline
Grace
Trudy

You're so lucky that you have a fairly easy last name to pair a first name with.....

Me again.

I'm concerned that you are ignoring the child's geographical heritage. A proper Utah girl should be named something along the lines of LaJohn, LaJohanna or LaTruman.

Wonderful on the positive ultrasound. Cracking the name-suggestions open, eh? #135's suggestion of Trula is lovely. Also, Elsa goes well Leta. And with Armstrong. Marit?

I kinda like the ring of Mallory Truman Armstrong.

Of course, when she arrives, you may see her and think of something different, which happened with my own kid, Lucy, who I was going to name something entirely different, until I saw her. Then I thought, "Oh, this is Lucy." And that was that.

In the meantime, despite the abject horror coming from 'anonymous' up there, I think Truman is fine for a girl's name, really. Unless you're planning on having three and want to save that name.

Brooke Truman

Look.... if you want unusual, try Gretchen. America flirted briefly with this name in the mid 70's (my parents were obviously among them) and has abandoned it since. A couple of things tho: When you introduce yourself as Gretchen, many people feel compelled to tell you about the shnauzer, shepard, or dachshund they know named "Gretchen", or they repeat it back to you as if the last time they heard the name they were watching porn. Otherwise, it's a pretty cool name to live with.

Or you could go with the most overused name of the 70's: Jennifer. Guaranteed she'll be the only one in her class with that name.

Then again, we can always give Dr. Seuss a nod: How about "Cindy Lou," as in "Cindy Lou Who, who was no more than two"?

Today's post is why I read your blog. Great writing.

its so funny how "name dynamics" change over the years!!! when i was a little girl there were ZERO girls with my name. I'd always thought my name was so strange, big shout out to Mom and Dad for that crazy old fashioned name! But now every time i turn around there are like 10 more Emily baby girls popping out, and now I'm just another "Ashley" or "Nikki" (names that were popular when I was much younger. :) Can we really blame those crazy celebs for naming their kids Apple and Harlow? hehe

Echoing someone above: Nora's a perfect name. Nora Armstrong. Nora and Leta, the Armstrong Girls. My strongest objection to Truman for a girl -- and there are many -- is that when you have 2 girls and one has a name which makes her gender obvious, what might it say to Truman that her name is not just ambiguous, but a pretty straightforward male name?

Paige is nice, too.

LaFonda. Napoleon Dynamite never goes out of style.

What about Nola?

My first impression when I saw the second ultrasound picture was that it looks like the baby's head is cradled in someone's hand. WOW!
I have 2 suggestions for baby names,
Amalie (pronounced like tamalie)
or
Lillian
Congratulations on your new daughter. I was never able to have children but always thought that I would love being pregnant. It wonderful being able to take this journey with you.
Thanks for Sharing!

I vote for Simone or Kiana.

Taryn
Lucy
Maryn
Brenna
Brynn
Devin

What an adorable ultrasound and post. I loved the "human being" part!! Please send it to those in power so we can put a stop to ending those human lives before they get a chance to really live.

I love the name Truman (Tru), but I also love the name Dru.
Whatever the name, that is one lucky baby to have such caring parents!

I've just started falling in love with the name Emilliana. I love the name Emily, so it's a nice play-off of that, and the name of a wonderful singer, so double win!

I absolutely LOVE Leta's name so I'm sure you will come up with something equally unique and beautiful!

Good luck! (With the name & the little ones!)

Truman is cute. I would have never thought about it as a girl's name, but it's unique and Tru would be cute.

Some of my favorites are Stella, Ruby, Tessa, Rory, Tillie, Willa, and Callista. Of course with each passing year my cats get these names and the future kids name list gets smaller.

Of course I think Leta would appreciate Aurora (Rory or Briar Rose), Cinderella (Cindy or Ella?), Belle, Arielle, Jasmine, Mulan, Pocahantas, and Snow White.

My husband and I didn't decide on a name until about two weeks before my daughter was born. She's now Ava Catherine, Catherine being a family name (but it pissed off his side of the family because it wasn't Katherine) and Ava being a derivative of Evelyn, my grandmother's middle name.

All I can say is, don't tell anyone until you have her. If your family is anything like ours, they'll just bitch. :P

I don't have children myself, but I do have dogs. Our spoiled baby girl (she's actually 7.5 years old!) is named Lily. I picked this name for her b/c it was the name of a little girl in a lovely book I was reading at the time and it has been so perfect for her ever since. I love this name and believe it is beautiful for a "tip-toeing" precious girl.

I also have a friend who named her first girl just a couple years ago "Greta Rae", and I absolutely LOVE this name.

So, I suggest either "Lily" or "Greta Rae".

Good luck to you both on agreeing eventually!

How about Loftan? Again, I like Leta and Loftan both beginning with the same letters. I'm wedding planning right now and as I look at invitations online I also pick out potential baby names. Think about what her name will sound like on her wedding invitations...

I vote Addison. If you have a Louise in your family you could name her Addison Louise and call her Addie Lou:)

We had the exact same problem. In the end there was ONLY one name in the universe of names that my hubby and I agreed on: Lorelei. But, I am still a tad bitter, Elizabeth is a lovely name and it would have been fun with all the nicknames. However, I had little standing with naming our daughter since I steam rolled over my hubby with the name of our son.

I actually ended up with my name because my mother didn't have any bad associations with it. And, I recently found out, it was one of the names she wanted to change hers to. She thought hers (Mary) was too boring. But she ended up keeping it and I got the name instead!

Josh and I aren't even married yet and we have two girls' and two boys' names picked out, first and second. So we have nothing to fight about anymore, obviously.

My step daughter {who is due when you are} chose Olive - Olly for short. :)

May I offer some unsolicited advice? Whatever name you choose, open your kitchen window, lean out and then scream it 8 times in a row. Then close the window, take a moment to catch your breath, if you still like it - that's the name for you!

Joy

What about Ilva?

I am big into family names-my hubby is more like Jon & said he knew a girl way back when, with every suggestion. My husband & I finally agreed on boy & girl names. I didn't know what I was having, so it made it interesting. We also had back up names in case the baby didn't look like our first choice. #2 first name for a girl & is Olivia, after his 3rd sister. Our daughter is named after my great-grandmother, Lily.

I'm glad to see a few people have already thrown Avery into the ring. I think it's a lovely, classic name for a girl. I always figured I'd name a daughter 'Avery Nadine', but my maternal instinct has yet to kick in so no babies for me.

With my first child, I could not decide on a girl's name either. Had a boy's name picked out for ages but couldn't settle on a girl's name and I had no idea what I was having so I wanted to be prepared for both. Just days before delivery I was on the phone with a good friend and his sister was in the background yelling out names for me to pick from, after about 40 I heard the one I knew was right- Ashlyn Kennedy. I love that name and it suits her so well. So, my suggestion - does Jon have a sister that has the patience to run through a list of names? :-)

Trumina?
Trumanda?
Truwoman?

It is so hard to be serious when thinking of names. You do live in Utah so there seems to be no bounds on what is expectable. (Not meant to offend- I have just encountered some doozies here).

My husband and I have known that we're having a boy for 5 weeks now and we're not doing so good on the name front either. Our problem is the opposite...we had a girl's name but not a boy's name. Anyway, I think I have suggested every name in the (baby name) book and my husband has said 'no' to all of them - except the name HE wants and I said 'no' to. Arg. I might just give in.

With our first two, we didn't have much trouble choosing names (a girl name and a boy name each time, since we didn't find out what we were having). But this last time it was awful. Every girl name I suggested was met with: "Do you want her to grow up to be a stripper?" (And no, I was not suggesting Candy.) Finally we ended up with a Matilda, and I could not imagine her with any other name. The process is excruciating, but in the end, I know you'll end up with the perfect name!

Aidrey
Gentry
Adalee (add-uh-lee)
Quinn
Amery (am-ery)

Your blog is inspiring and so wonderful. Thank you for posting so often!

Well, all of our pets have "human" names. We named one of our dogs Thomas long before we started talking babies. Turns out Thomas is a family name for both of us, so if we have a son his middle name will be the same as the dog. And I SO want a boy instead of a girl.

Also Ava, Simone, or Suri (like Surrey, England and Tom Cruise's baby. Not a fan of him, but I love the name of his little girl!).

Suri Armstrong is spunky. I think you'll both know the right name when you see your little princess.

Svea...it is a Swedish name...so pretty

I thought it was much harder to decide on a name for our second...he wasn't named until we were literally being discharged from the hospital. It'll come to you and when you hear it you'll know it's right.

As a high school teacher who once had a class with three boys named Chris, a girl named Kris, a Kristine, and a Kristina, I tried to select names that were uncommon, but not weird. We have three daughters, who are named Avery, Camille, and Maya.

Sybil! I have an irrational love for it now that I am used to it - the book/movie is far off enough so as not to make childhood miserable.

Funny, my pregnancies were the same. My first child kicked and karate chopped and backflipped the whole time, and her personality is much like Leta's (she's 16 now...). My second was gentle and sleepy, and that is exactly how he is now (he's 3).

Do you have any other family names you'd like to carry on? Leta is a beautiful name, and I love the reason you chose it.

Ever since my childhood obsession with Beverly Cleary, I've wanted to name a daughter Ramona. My daughter's father, however, vetoed, and we went with Elise. Which I'm (and she's) very happy about now. But I'm a one-and-done kinda gal, and really hoping someone will name their daughter Ramona since I won't ever be able to!

Good luck with this!

Our neighbours didn't name their son until he was 5 weeks old.
He was just baby boy.
And I know another couple who named their daughter after the first sound she made. Fortunately the first sound she made sounded like Mayala and that is what they named her and not thwttt or squaaaack which could easily have been her first sound.

Trulea (something) Armstrong... everyone can call her Tru... My vote is all in for TRU!!!!

'Rose'

If I ever have a kid (which I'm not sure I will) and if it's a girl, I'm naming her Adria (pronounced with an 'a' sound like in "add"). It's pretty and unusual (and only Sci-Fi nerds will know where I got it from).

You know what you've done, don't you? You will, from this day forth, have complete strangers coming up to you, at the store, in the mall, on the street, and giving you baby name suggestions. Not to mention the e-mails of baby names lists you'll get. You dear, have opened a can of worms. Name suggestions were my pet peeve when I was expecting. People didn't get that we hadn't chosen a name because we COULDN'T AGREE. Not because we hadn't thought of anything! Oh, Ryan, what a perfect name, why no, we've never thought of that! How ingenious of you!

Good luck!

And I can't help but add that I really hope you don't go with Truman. Really. Like you care what I think, but really, don't.

Truman!!!! Great name for a girl! This is from parents who didn't name their daughter for 4 weeks after she was born. Truman hits me as a great name, and I might have used it - if you had mentioned it sooner. Love the family connection too.

How about Leta Jr. ? That way, you could just yell the same old name you've been yelling for 4 years.

Totally off topic:
I know you have baby brain, but where's the new masthead?

Truman is a nice name. Trudy (or Trudie or Trudee or Trudye or... the spelling variations are endless) is a female form of it.

Or name her after a princess. I'm sure Leta would LOVE to have a little sister named Cinderella.

Chloe Truman Armstrong !!

I'm so glad the placenta is moving up. Mine did that with my second, too.

I had girls' names picked out, but ended up with 2 boys. And really - I had the majorit vote with naming both of them. I birth the baby, I get to pick the name. I think it's fair.

Please don't name her Truman. Don't even consider it. My little boys come home and report on some of the strange names of their classmates. And sometimes, I respond out loud with "their parents must be IDIOTS. Naming their child that! Poor kid. Idiotic parents. Don't make fun of them - pity them. To be stuck with such a horrendous name AND stupid parents."

Beatrice (nickname Bea, pronounced Bee or Bay-a, both are pretty, especially Bay-a)
Camilla or Camille
Eileen
Violet
Eleanor
Jane (that's my name and I love it!)

I grew up with varya, annonay, akiko, mariko (among others) and then there's my name, rhea. Rare is the day when someone pronounces my name correctly (admittedly there is more than one way), I even had a teacher who never said my name correctly for a whole year (and she had named one of her daughters socrates, which i thought entirely cruel). My sister's name is heather, and it was only mucked by francophones. What I'm trying to say is: choose a name that is easy to pronounce! Pretty and pronounceable! Sure, some people can muck up anything, but I think you guys did well with Leta!

My ever so humble opinion & unsolicited advice.

My husband and I had the opposite problem. When I was pregnant we knew what we would name a girl but weren't prepared for a boy. Here is the story on how we finally decided on a name:

I know you're being hammered with names. I love Leta's, and wish we could have named our first Lena. For our second, I very much liked Corinne, but it didn't work well with the rest of us. Maybe it would work for you.

Ick on "Trudy", sorry. Tru is nice..

For your consideration:

Stella
Finley (Fin)

I can't get my husband to agree, so they're yours if you want them!

I like Darian and Sloane. Although you could just use Leta again. That way you will NEVER accidently call one of them the wrong name, like I do.. I end up just yelling, hey, you, with the brown hair...

My Mom's name is Dava, she was third of four girls and by then her father had given up on having a David Jr. Her younger sister's middle name is George.

Of course with our common last name, we tried to pick unusual (but real) names for our kids. Of course this means my daughter Sabine, tells everyone her name is Kate or Katie and that she is going to legally change it as soon as she is old enough.

We should have just gone with my grandmothers' names, Agnes or Florence, nobody uses those any more.

One more thing, don't use any of the names suggested, I hate all of them... (well, except Signe), but don't use that one either, you and Jon will be able to agree on something that speaks to you both.

How about Tesilevol. I am not sure hot to pronounce it but it is LOVELISET spelled backwards. We knew I lady that had that name and her family called her Tes for short. I think its kind of cool.

Here are some of the names I love for a girl (even though I get a lot of crap for the boy names)

Noah
Avery
Averley
Ryann
Doran (my current fave)
Isabelle
Addison
Kamana (rhymes with cabanna)

My sister-in-law once threw out the name Penelope (not pronounced in the traditional way but a mix of Penelope and Canteloupe) so it would be pronounced Pen-e-lowp. Seriously. It was a big problem.

Our daughter's name is Ellen. It's a family name - I'm a sucker for family names.

I also like Evan.

Good luck :)

oh. almost forgot.

I also like Truly. but think of the kids and socially inept parents.. "Your name is Truly? Truly Armstrong? Thats truly your name?"

Sorry, I don't have name suggestions. I just wanted to say that I love the new little photo of you up there--pretty!

You probably know about this already, but the Social Security website tracks most popular names going way back:

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/babynames/

This is also a great way to procrastinate just about anything.

Apple? Oh, done. Mac? Oh, more boyish. It was SO HARD for me to pick a second girl's name, I used up all my creative sparkle on the first daughter. How about Baby Armstrong?? You can spell it "Bebe" or "Bambina" and call her "Bina" for short. Or Baybee--but then she might end up on Toddlers and Tiaras in a few years...which would be her own idea of course--Toddlers love pageants. Wow how did I end up on that comment?? Cant' wait to hear the name!

Lana Olivia

I was born on June 14. My daughter was born on June 14. We named her HELEN. She is the only Helen in her whole school, and the strong traditional name suits her. You may borrow it if you would like!

Take care!

Okay, I'm going to preface this by saying that you did not ask for any name suggestions, and obviously you've received several already. So, I'm just going to share my favorites in the spirit of general discussion, not because I expect you to pick from them.

Margot
Eleanor (Ellie, Elle)
Kate
Sylvie
Kelsey
Amelia

I also love the idea of naming girls after kickass women in history, but some of my favorites (Beryl Markham or Freya Stark) are a little too unusual, I think.

Have fun with the whole process! All the occupants of the Blurbdoocery have great names, so I'm sure you'll pick another great one!

How about Linnea.